district attorney

Alex Wubbels' civil rights may have been violated under 'color of law,' he says

(Newser) -
The FBI has apparently gotten involved in the case of a Utah nurse arrested for not allowing a police officer to draw blood from a patient. Per KSL , Salt Lake City DA Sim Gill has reported he submitted a formal request to the agency to see if Alex Wubbels' civil...
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It's not just the war on drugs, says law professor John Pfaff

(Newser) -
The US prison population hit a record 1.62 million in 2009, and there's a widely accepted explanation for that: the war on drugs. But law professor John Pfaff is proposing a very different explanation, and he explains it in an interview with Leon Neyfakh at Slate . Only 17%...
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Suspect held in Alaska killing

(Newser) -
America's northernmost city has been stunned by the shooting death of an assistant district attorney. In what could be Alaska's first targeted killing of a state prosecutor in memory, Brian Sullivan, 48, was shot dead at a home in Barrow Monday night, and suspect Ronald Fischer, 47, is...
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Husband, disgraced justice of peace, also likely to be charged

(Newser) -
Someone has been charged for the murder of a Texas DA and his family —and it's not an entirely expected suspect. Kim Williams, 46, was arrested and booked on capital murder charges this morning, and is being held on a $10 million bond, the Dallas Morning News reports....
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Plus: Mike McLelland was shot at 20 times

(Newser) -
Investigators are zeroing in on a former official as they investigate the deaths of two Texas prosecutors. The fired local official had threatened victims Mike McLelland and Mark Hasse, insiders tell the Los Angeles Times . The unnamed person of interest was convicted two years ago of stealing public property and...
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AP reviews prosecutor killings in last century

(Newser) -
As if the murders of two Texas prosecutors in the last two months isn't jarring enough, the AP's review of such killings puts the deaths in a new light: Since 1912, just 14 prosecutors have been killed. That's according to stats kept by the National District Attorneys...
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Mike McLelland had linked recent murder to white supremacists

(Newser) -
The north Texas district attorney found murdered with his wife yesterday had been carrying a gun to guard against possible assassins, the AP reports. Wary after one of his assistant prosecutors was killed, Mike McLelland kept the weapon on him at all times, even when walking his dog (he figured...
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Mike McLelland and wife found gunned down in their home

(Newser) -
A Texas district attorney and his wife have been gunned down in a flurry of bullets inside their own home, becoming the second member of his office killed in two months, reports the Dallas Morning News . Sources said the door of Kaufman County DA Mike McLelland was kicked in, in...
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Prosecutors slam what they call a publicity stunt

(Newser) -
Prosecutors have all but nixed James Holmes' reported offer of a guilty plea to dodge the death penalty. They're "extremely unlikely" to accept the proposal without "specific access to information" on Holmes that, so far, his team has refused to provide, they say, per the Denver Post...
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Mark Suben appeared in adult films in '70s

(Newser) -
A district attorney in upstate New York has admitted that he acted in pornographic movies in the 1970s, then lied about it during his second campaign. Mark Suben, the DA in Cortland County near Syracuse since 2008, held a news conference yesterday to fess up. "Recently materials have been...
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DA office plagued by poor morale, infighting, say critics

(Newser) -
The meltdown of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case is shining a spotlight on Cyrus Vance Jr, the Manhattan district attorney, and the results aren't pretty. In the 18 months Vance has been DA, the Manhattan office has gone from being the pre-eminent DA's office in the country to being...
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Robert Morgenthau, 90, leaves office this week

(Newser) -
In 35 years as Manhattan DA, Robert Morgenthau has gotten along with every mayor of New York—except the current one. Mike Bloomberg, says Morgenthau, "doesn't want anybody around who doesn't kiss his ring, or other parts of his body." In a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street ...
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Hollywood supporters facing off against angry feminists over sex with teen

(Newser) -
Whoopi Goldberg's comment that Roman Polanski's sex with a 13-year-old girl wasn't really "rape-rape" has added fuel to the growing conflagration between the film director's Hollywood supporters and angry feminists. "I know it wasn't rape-rape. I think it was something else, but I don't believe it was rape-rape,...
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Four men released from jail after accuser admits sex was consensual

(Newser) -
A reported gang rape at Hofstra University wasn't a rape after all, the local DA says. The accuser "recanted her claims against the five young men," a school official told students in a text message. The four men who had been charged—and publicly identified—were released from...
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Check his site: He's got an ankle monitor

(Newser) -
Would-be Philadelphia District Attorney Michael Untermeyer has outfitted himself with a stylish new accessory—an electronic ankle monitor, of the kind he’d like to slap on the city’s criminals, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. For the next 30 days, curious voters will be able to keep tabs on him...
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NY lawyer just needs to stay out of trouble

(Newser) -
Madlyn Primoff, the New York lawyer who gained notoriety when she kicked her squabbling kids out of the car last month, will likely not face legal repercussions, the Journal News reports. Though she faces a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child, it will be dropped in 6...
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Prosecutors file charges of murder, kidnapping, and rape

(Newser) -
A California Sunday school teacher arrested for the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu is now eligible for the death penalty after prosecutors added three “special circumstances,” to her charges today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The San Joaquin County DA alleges that Melissa Huckaby killed the girl after...
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Attorney, DA rep confirm cooperation

(Newser) -
Rihanna is cooperating with the Los Angeles District Attorney in the case against Chris Brown—and reports otherwise are “totally incorrect,” her attorney tells E! A rep for the DA’s office also confirms Rihanna is “a cooperating victim” in the domestic-violence case, although she will not...
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(Newser) -
Bernard Madoff’s lawyer argued today that the financier, who has pleaded guilty to a $65 billion Ponzi scheme, should be free on bail until June sentencing, the New York Times reports. Ira Sorkin cited past precedent in similar cases, but the prosecution said Madoff has incentive to flee—and...
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Coffee merchant sends 2,200 Prosecution of Bush books to DAs

(Newser) -
A Seattle coffee merchant has sent 2,200 copies of Vincent Bugliosi’s bestselling The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder to DAs whose districts have lost residents to the Iraq war, the Seattle Times reports. The damning book “was the first time in 8 years I had...
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